While snapping together plastic bricks will always hold a special place in my heart, sometimes I crave a more complicated building toy - something that requires an allen wrench and several dozen tiny little screws. The Gears of War King Raven Erector set fits the bill nicely. Let's build it.

The King Raven is one of four Gears-themed Erector sets available exclusively at Toys'R'Us this holiday season. The Armadillo APC is rather nice, and the Locust Vs. Delta Squad set is great for builders looking to create a diorama. Erector has already created a video showing the Centaur tank being constructed, so I opted for the King Raven. It's a helicopter. Helicopters are cool.

As I mention in the video below, the last time I played with an Erector set was around three decades ago. I distinctly recall trying to build a robot. Maybe "trying" is a stretch — I bolted several girder-looking bits together and then went to play with the dead frog in my science kit instead. I also had a geology kit that, in retrospect, was just a box filled with rocks. Kids were stupid back then.

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This isn't my younger self's Erector set. This is a marriage of molded plastic parts with those classic metal bits, creating something that actually looks like a real thing rather than the burnt-out husk of whatever it was you were trying to build.

I figured I'd put this together in an hour during an afternoon visit to my parents' house. It took me three. I am old, and my fingers are large. Luckily for you folks I've condensed the construction down to under three minutes and set it to the lovely sound of Ghostly Dust Machine's "Ode To A Baby Snowstorm."

Pretty nifty, isn't it? The tiny figures might be a bit meh, but that King Raven is so sexy you want to wear it as a hat to a fancy dinner party.

With Sonic Racingsets on the shelves as well, Erector is slowly working its way up the video game food chain, bolt by bolt. It's gained a serious foothold employing the C.O.G. forces. I can't wait to see where it goes next.